Optical discs such as a DVD and a Blu-ray disc have been rapidly spread. In such optical discs, a data pattern is recorded onto a recording surface by applying a laser beam onto the recording surface. Thus, it is necessary to perform a recording compensation operation which is an operation of providing an appropriate strategy of the laser beam (i.e. shape or waveform of a recording pulse) in order to perform optimum recording. A patent document 1 discloses one example of the recording compensation operation. Specifically, the patent document 1 discloses the recording compensation operation in which an optimum strategy in high-speed recording (i.e. an optimum strategy when the recording is performed at high linear velocity) and an optimum strategy in low-speed recording (i.e. an optimum strategy when the recording is performed at low linear velocity) are obtained by test writing, thereby estimating an optimum strategy when the recording is performed at intermediate linear velocity. By this, the optimum strategies at all the recording speeds can be obtained even if the optimum strategies at all the recording speeds are hardly obtained by the test writing.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2004-234699